Be Still My Beating Heart

This pile of loot was not found by me, no, it was sought out and collected by my five-year old grandson (soon to be six he would want you to know), Jackson. When I had him and his brother, Emmett, on Monday, Jackson said he didn't want to take the sports equipment up to the park, but instead, he wanted to go on a treasure hunt. This was child-speak for collecting bits of found objects. So with plastic baggies in hand, we set out. The only rule was that Jackson had to point to his goodies for my approval before he picked anything up (wanting to avoid syringes or pieces of glass). Jackson's first discovery was a piece of a bicycle reflector. SCORE!

I did have to do a little explaining to his parents why he was bringing home a baggie full of, well, garbage! Ahh, I think the little guy is taking after me! And his parents weren't even surprised.

300th Post

I was planning to do a blog post about my grandson (stay tuned on that one), then realized this would be my 300th post since beginning my blog on October 17, 2007. It seemed only appropriate that I commemorate all of the writing and posting of photos I've done over the past couple of years. Yikes Almighty! That's a lot of hot air . . .


I’ve always been one to keep a record of my life, whether through diaries with little keys (I was pretty young when I kept that kind of diary), or through the daily writing of Morning Pages (something I’ve done for the past several years). In high school, I was elected sophomore class historian (I don’t remember doing a single thing, but I sure liked the idea of it). My mom has given me all of the family photo albums and scrapbooks, and I don’t even want to say how many photos albums I’ve assembled. I have boxes of ephemera filled with the letters and cards I’ve received, programs from plays, wedding and obituary announcements, and just the stuff of everyday life I couldn’t bear to throw out. I have a scrapbook filled with all of the anniversary cards my husband and I have given to each other – 37 years worth! So when I decided to keep a blog, it seemed a logical extension of keeping a record of my life. Only in a much more public way. I know not a lot of people leave comments (there are a few who are very faithful and I am so grateful), but I know there are a lot more who read because occasionally they’ll tell me in person or through an e-mail that they have been reading and enjoying my blog. Comments are encouraging, but they aren’t what motivate me to keep blogging. I guess maintaining my creative blog is just another way to record my life, to share my creative highlights, and if in the process if I encourage or uplift someone else, or even momentarily entertain someone, that’s just bonus.


One of the things I've been toying with is starting a monthly newsletter. I've put together a questionnaire that I will be sending out to my friends and previous art students, soliciting their feedback on first, whether they would be interested in receiving such a beast, and if yes (please be yes), what kind of things they would like to see and read in it.

If you find you have a few minutes, I would sure love to know if you would be interested in receiving my newsletter, and even if you aren’t interested in receiving it, what types of things do you think make for an interesting and dynamic newsletter. You can reply to this post and leave a comment with your thoughts, or you can send me an e-mail at: dayna@alleyartstudio.com.

1. Would you be interested in receiving a monthly newsletter from me?

2. If yes, what type of information would you like for it to include (please let me know which of the following sound appealing):

a. Upcoming classes I will be teaching

b. Classes offered by other teachers/groups/organizations/artists

c. Art opportunities, i.e., swaps, Round Robins, collaborations, etc. offered by me?

d. Art opportunities, i.e., swaps, Round Robins, collaborations, etc. offered by others such as blog sites, art stores, art galleries, etc.

e. Would you like to receive creativity tips?

f. Would you like to receive project information, instructions, creative ideas?

g. Would you like for me to offer challenges?

h. Would you like for me to highlight another artist’s blog (with a link) in each monthly newsletter?

Any other suggestions for what you would like to see in a monthly newsletter?

To respond, please leave a comment or send me an e-mail and just do something like:

1. Yes
2. a-h yes! (or something like yes to a, c, f, and g)

Thanks so much for reading and supporting me through 300 blog posts! And here's to the next 300 . . .

Art Buddy: A Jump Start

Sven is an art friend I met through my association with Scarlet Star Studios and because he is also a graduate of Gretchin's Artist's Way Creative Clusters. Sven and I have stayed connected through weekly Artist's Way check-ins with each other, and I so appreciate his feedback and creative encouragement. Sven is a talented artist in many arenas, but one of his favorites is stopmo, stop motion animation. To learn more about Sven and his art, click here. The blog maintained by Sven (and Gretchin) is also a fascinating way to learn more about the many facets of Sven.

Here is what Sven had to say when he submitted his image:

It only seemed natural that I ought to do some animation with my Art Buddy!

Stopmo is famously laborious, what with planning and fabrication…It's so easy to get bogged down.

My animation table's been gathering dust far too long. So: what a treat do some improvisational work again! Thanks for the jump start. :-D

Glimpses of Portland

I've been in downtown Portland for a little over a week now. Of course, I take my camera with me wherever I go, so I thought it might be fun to occasionally post some of the Portland photos I've snapped. You can be sure that my family will sneak into the posts, but I think they're kinda cute and photogenic, so you'll forgive me if I veer into nepotism! Most of the photos below are pretty self-explanatory, and if they're not, well, feel free to use your imagination!

Artist's Way Reunion

Saturday evening nine of the women who have taken my Artist's Way Creative Clusters gathered in Portland on Rapture for a reunion. Twenty were invited, so I was pleased that almost half could attend. In preparation, I had gone to the Portland Farmer's Market and bought a couple pints of fresh, local strawberries.


The women began to arrive in late afternoon. Laura came bearing a large foil-covered bundle, which turned out to be a work of art - fresh fruit spears embedded in a half of watermelon.

Susan had fun rearranging the magnetic poetry on my refrigerator.

Jill and Susan got in line to dish up from the bounty of salads the women brought.

With our bellies full, we settled in for a couple hours of sharing: what we've been doing, what our creative lives have looked like, plans for the future, health and family issues, and we even did a good share of laughing. Kathleen and Laura look at a photograph of an art project Bobbie has been working on.



As we were wrapping up, a bride, groom, and their bridal party were walking down the boat ramp. We all went out on deck to clap and wish them well . . . they ended up on our boat with their photographer and videographer snapping photos!

Howard arrived home in time to snap a group photo. Thank you, ladies, for being in my life.